According to the report, Banking
Technology Vision 2018, banks have always held a large volume of
confidential data and are increasingly adding data from external,
unstructured sources. However, while more than nine in 10 (94 percent)
of the bankers surveyed said they are confident in the integrity of the
sources of their data, the report found that half of the bankers aren’t
doing enough to validate and ensure data quality: 11 percent trust their
data is reliable, but don’t validate it; 16 percent try to validate
their data, but aren’t sure of the quality; and 24 percent validate the
data, but recognize they should do a lot more to ensure the quality.

In addition, while five in six bankers (84 percent) said they
increasingly use data to drive critical and automated decision-making,
more than three-quarters (78 percent) of those surveyed believe that
these automated systems create new risks, such as fake data, external
data manipulation and inherent bias.

“Inaccurate, unverified data will make banks vulnerable to false
business insights that drive bad decisions,” said Alan McIntyre, senior
managing director and head of Accenture’s banking practice. “Banks can
address this vulnerability by verifying the history of data from its
origin onward – understanding the context of the data and how it is
being used – and by securing and maintaining the data. Given that four
in five bankers that we surveyed said they are basing their most
critical systems and strategies on data, it’s critical that the data can
be verified and validated.”

The Accenture Banking Technology Vision 2018 report draws on the
analysis of an advisory board of more than two dozen individuals,
interviews with technology luminaries and industry experts, and results
of a survey of nearly 800 bankers. This year’s report, with the theme
“Building the Future-Ready Bank,” showcases five IT trends – including
data veracity – that could generate the next wave of industry disruption
for banks and how technological change will rewrite the rules of banking
over the next decade.

Artificial intelligence (AI) – a big theme in last year’s report –
continues to be a top trend for 2018. Nearly four in five bankers (79
percent) surveyed for this year’s report believe that AI will work
alongside humans as collaborators and trusted advisors within the next
two years. However, bankers are concerned about how decisions will be
made by AI as the technology advances and if those decisions will adhere
to regulatory and ethical standards. The report’s “Citizen AI” trend
focuses on the need for humans to ensure that machines are well-trained,
make ethical decisions, and can evolve in ways that are consistent with
the bank’s brand.

“As AI becomes more visible within banks – as both a co-worker to
employees and a customer-facing representative – there will be more
scrutiny placed on how AI decisions are made,” said Peter Sidebottom, a
managing director of strategy in Accenture’s Financial Services
practice. “AI decisioning processes can’t be a black box; banks need to
adhere to and provide the same transparency as they do with any other
employee to ensure regulatory compliance, and to earn customer trust.”

Ninety percent of bankers believe it’s important for employees and
customers to understand the general principles used in AI-based
decisioning. Nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of bankers said their bank
plans to provide transparency for all areas where AI is used in the bank
within two years, and an additional 29 percent said their bank plans to
be fully transparent for all AI decisions that are customer-facing.
Transparency will be key, as more than two-thirds (71 percent) of
surveyed bankers said the biggest benefit they expect from AI is that it
will enable banks to build trust and confidence with their customers.

The “Frictionless Business” trend discusses how businesses today depend
on technology-based partnerships for growth, but many banks can’t easily
partner with third parties because of their own complex, often
inflexible operating and technology platforms. The report identifies two
technologies that can help banks overcome these challenges:
microservices and blockchain.

Blockchain, in particular, is important to the banking industry. In
fact, of all the executives surveyed for the broader Accenture Tech
Vision 2018 report, those in the banking industry were more likely than
those in any other industry to cite blockchain and smart contracts as
being critical to their organization over the next three years (71
percent of bankers vs. 60 percent of executives in other industries, on
average). In addition, the banking executives expect that operational
blockchain systems will be live in their banks in 2.6 years, on average,
and that the technology might one day provide cost-effective
replacements for legacy core banking systems.

A full copy of Accenture’s Banking Technology Vision 2018 can be
accessed here.

Methodology

The Banking Technology Vision 2018 report is derived from the Accenture
Technology Vision, developed annually by the Accenture
Labs and Accenture
Research. The research process for Accenture Technology Vision 2018
included gathering input from the Technology Vision External Advisory
Board, a group comprising more than two dozen experienced individuals
from the public and private sectors, academia, venture capital firms and
entrepreneurial companies. In addition, the Technology Vision team
conducted interviews with technology luminaries and industry experts, as
well as with nearly 100 Accenture business leaders. In parallel,
Accenture Research conducted a global online survey of more than 6,300
business and IT executives across 25 countries and 18 industries to
capture insights into the adoption of emerging technologies.

The banking industry report is based on responses from nearly 800
respondents at banks in 25 countries across North America, Europe,
Asia-Pacific, Africa and South America. The survey helped identify the
key issues and priorities for technology adoption and investment.
Respondents were mostly C-level executives and directors, with some
functional and line-of-business leads, at companies with annual revenues
of at least US$500 million, with most having annual revenues greater
than US$6 billion.

About Accenture

Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a
broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital,
technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and
specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business
functions – underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network –
Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help
clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their
stakeholders. With approximately 442,000 people serving clients in more
than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the
world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.